Flying with kids can make an enjoyable vacation or a nightmare. Learn tricks to make fellow passengers thank your children for their behavior.
You've finally saved enough money to take the kids on a wonderful vacation, the one you've been dreaming about for years. But how will you manage to keep your children entertained, happy, and quiet during a long trip in an airplane, when a ten-minute car ride is sometimes more than they can bear? If you carefully plan seating arrangements, snacks, and activities, the trip will be an enjoyable start to your vacation, rather than an adventure that makes you wish you had stayed at home.
Seating Arrangements
Where you'll sit on the airplane makes a surprisingly big difference in the quality of the trip. Most airplanes are designed with three seats on one side of the aisle and two or three on the other side of the aisle; larger airplanes have a middle section with more seats. Most airlines post diagrams of their airplanes online, so use the airline's website to choose your seats. A trick that many families use is to divide the family into two rows, each with one parent, and the children divided equally. If you'll have two people sitting in a row with three seats, request a window for one and an aisle for the other. Center seats are typically the last to be reserved, so if the flight does not fill up, you're likely to have an empty seat in which to spread out. If the flight does fill, your seatmate will be happy to trade a center seat for a window or aisle seat.
Many parents struggle with the decision to buy a ticket for a child under two, or to have the child sit on their laps. If you decide to purchase a seat for your infant or toddler, you'll need to have a car seat approved for airline use. Most seats are; check your owner's manual. If you decide not to purchase a seat for your child, it's wise to carry-on your car seat anyway. If there is an empty seat in your row the flight attendants will allow you to use it, and you will be able to buckle your infant in properly. Check your manual to see how to install the seat on an airplane; it's usually installed in an airplane the same way it's installed in a car with a lap belt. If no seat is available, gate check your car seat (give it to the flight attendants at the gate and pick it up as you exit the airplane) or carry it on board and stow it in the cabinets above the seats. At the very least, you won't need to worry about the airline losing your car seat like you might if it were checked with your bags. While infant carriers are not approved as flight safety devices, you may feel more secure if you wear your infant in a sling or front-pack during take-off and landing.
Snacks
It's wise to have a variety of food and drink when you are flying with children. Most flights, even long ones, do not include a meal, and the snacks portions are usually meager. Especially if your kids are finicky eaters or prone to allergies, pack things that you know they'll enjoy. Likewise, bring drinks. The beverage cart on an airplane is a novelty that your children will surely enjoy, and is stocked with a great variety of water, juices, and sodas. It only comes around every hour or so, however, and is not stocked with kids cups.
When the trip is expected to take most of the day, some people plan on purchasing a meal during a flight change. Stopping for lunch or dinner can be an enjoyable use of your time if you have several hours between flights. If your stopovers are short, though, pack lunch. Planes are often delayed, and getting children and their accoutrements from one end of a large airport to another can be a time-consuming adventure. Use the two-hour rule as a good guideline. If you have fewer than two hours between flights, make sure you have enough food. It's easier to throw away a lunch that looks unappetizing next to the food court if your plane is on time than it is to rush past the food court if your plane is delayed, knowing your kids are hungry.
Activities
Having plenty of the right activities for the kids to do on the airplane is the most important bit of packing you can do for any flight. Each child old enough to carry a backpack across an airport should be allowed to carry his or her own toys and activities. Help your kids choose quiet toys that won't bother other passengers, and that don't have tiny pieces that could go rolling all over the airplane. Once the activity bags are packed, don't let the kids open their packs until the plane is in the air. If children are allowed to play with the toys in the car on the way to the airport or at the gate as they wait to board, the toys will have lost their novelty before they are really needed.
Electronic activities can be wonderful on airplanes, especially for older children. If you've been debating on whether or not to get your eight-year-old a hand-held game system, this is the time to buy one. Portable DVD players are also great for flying with children. In-flight movies only play on really long flights (think four or more hours), and are geared toward adults. Before bringing any electronic device on an airplane, though, check with the airline to make sure that it's approved for use during flight. AM/FM radios, global positioning systems, and radio- or remote-controlled toys are always prohibited on airplanes, because they can interfere with the airplane's controls.
To a child, flying in an airplane can be one of the most memorable parts of vacation. There's something about looking down at the world from cloud-level that gives a remarkable sense of perspective. Children love to see what the world looks like from above, and are fascinated by the aspects of air travel that adults take for granted. Parents can help to make a child's first trip on an airplane seem like a magical, wondrous adventure by carefully choosing seating arrangements, snacks, and activities. Hopefully, the flight will go so smoothly that the children won't know that the plane ride was one of the most carefully planned parts of the vacation.
